Law enforcement believe the schemes are increasingly used as a financing source for gangs

More than a dozen suspected gang members from Brooklyn were charged with running a large credit-card fraud scheme in what authorities described on Tuesday as an increasingly popular way to finance gang activity.

Fourteen people who law-enforcement officials said are linked with Hoodstarz, an affiliate of the Crips gang located in the Brownsville neighborhood of Brooklyn, allegedly used machines to forge over 700 credit cards with...